Seoul: South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back will visit the United States next week for talks with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, the defence ministry said Saturday, as the allies seek to discuss a host of pending issues, including the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON).
Ahn will make a five-day trip to Washington starting Sunday and plans to hold talks with his American counterpart on Monday (US time), the ministry said. It will be Ahn’s first visit to the US as the defence minister.
His visit comes as South Korea is seeking to retake wartime command of its troops from the US and pushing to build nuclear-powered submarines with US support.
President Lee Jae Myung’s government, which has championed “self-reliant” defence, aims to reclaim the wartime OPCON before its five-year term ends in 2030. It is reportedly targeting 2028 for the transition, while President Donald Trump’s administration is still in office, reports Yonhap news agency.
But signs of a difference in views emerged after US Forces Korea commander Gen. Xavier Brunson told Congress last month that the two countries seek to meet conditions required for the transfer no later than the first quarter of 2029. His proposed timeline suggests the OPCON transfer may not be ready even after Trump’s term ends on January 20, 2029.
Ahn is likely to discuss these issues with Hegseth and underscore efforts to advance the transition.
South Korea handed over operational control of its forces to the US-led United Nations Command during the 1950-53 Korean War. It retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but wartime operational command still remains in the US’ hands.
The OPCON transfer is also among the key agenda items for their high-level defence dialogue set to take place in Washington next week following the ministerial talks.
Also high on the agenda for the top defence chiefs will likely be South Korea’s push to build nuclear-powered submarines amid little progress since Trump gave the green light to the move during his summit talks with President Lee in October last year.
The two sides could also discuss ways for South Korea to support US efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that remains choked off amid the US-Iran war.
The US has proposed an international coalition aimed at ensuring free navigation of the shipping route, called the “Maritime Freedom Construct.”
They may also discuss US restrictions on intelligence-sharing with Seoul on North Korea after Washington took issue with a South Korean minister’s disclosure identifying the North’s Kusong region as a uranium enrichment facility. The US suspects it was based on intelligence it had shared with Seoul.
While in Washington, Ahn plans to meet acting US Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, as well as key members of the US Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the ministry said.
